This was Marvin Gaye’s follow-up single to his No. 1 smash “Heard It Through the Grapevine,” and like that song it was written by Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong — but not for that purpose. The tune was first released on a 1966 Temptation album, but was never released as a single. Whitfield retooled it for Gaye, and helped by the coattails of “Grapevine” it reached No. 4 on the Hot 100 and No. 5 in the UK. It was also the top-selling R&B single of 1969.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z76RDhkB-6c
Here’s the original, which sounds softer and slower than Gaye’s version, though like the original it was produced by Whitfield himself. I take it as a demonstration of how much tougher the Motown sound got between 1966 and 1969.
Man, the Tempts’ version sounds like it could have been covered by Mary Wells.
As subjective as music appreciation is, there must be some objective and quantifiable difference between good music and great music. This song, considered against Grapevine, for example.
Many wise men have driven themselves mad trying to quantify quality.
Dave Marsh, whose ‘The Heart Of Rock & Soul’ is one of the greatest bathroom books ever, considers Marvin Gaye’s version of ‘I Heard It Through The Grapevine’ to be the greatest single of all time. He makes a compelling case:
https://www.lexjansen.com/cgi-bin/marsh_xml.php?fn=1